Why? Witches - complete with their ghoulish hexes and delicious rituals - have always been high on my supernatural list. And they play a big part in the HBO drama's fourth season, which bows at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Adding local spice to this new Blood brew is San Antonio native Kevin Alejandro, who spent his early childhood in the Alamo City before moving to West Texas and eventually attending the University of Texas at Austin. As we learned briefly during his first run with the vampire show last season, Alejandro's character, Jesus, is a witch.

Now we're introduced to his coven, where all kinds of toil and trouble take place. He even brings boyfriend Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) and his cousin Tara (Rutina Wesley) along for the ride.

A particularly chilling scene, marked by eerie special effects, happens in the second episode, when Eric (Alex Skarsgard) drops in on the witches.

He's there to convince the group, led by Marnie (Fiona Shaw of the Harry Potter films at her weirdest), to get the hell out of Dodge, um, Bon Temps.

However, Eric's attempt - fangs and all - is foiled, thanks to a debilitating spell cast on this once masterful sheriff of vampires.

Ah yes, the entrance of this new force into the already crowded monster realm of True Blood may bug Sookie (Anna Paquin). "Oh, great. Now I have to deal with witches," she complains.

But as someone who always has adored witches - from Margaret Hamilton's wicked turn in Wizard of Oz to Samantha and Endora in TV's Bewitched to the bizarre neighbors in Rosemary's Baby - I couldn't be more excited about Blood's new inhabitants.

Uneasy to love

Prepare to cringe ... in a pleasurable way. Just as the temperatures climb to uncomfortable heights, some of TV's more uncomfortable characters re-enter your air-conditioned homes. A look ahead:

Louie (9:30 p.m. Thursday, FX): Single dad and stand-up comic Louis C.K. returns for more everyday ordeals in the second season of his scripted comedy. It starts out with a noxious bang. When his pregnant sister visits, the socially awkward Louie finds himself depending on some surprisingly comforting neighbors to help get her to the hospital for emergency medical treatment. Yes, the half-hour can be crass and incredibly crude, but thanks to sharp writing and a nuanced performance by the series star, it also delivers some surprisingly sensitive insights.

The Big C (9:30 p.m. Monday, Showtime): After being diagnosed with inoperable Stage 4 melanoma, wife and mother Cathy Jamison (Laura Linney) threw caution to the wind last season and did whatever struck her fancy, including engaging in an extramarital affair with a sexy painter (Idris Elba). In season two, she gets back on track with her family and an angry determination to fight her cancer with whatever it takes.

Curb Your Enthusiasm (9 p.m. July 10, HBO): In season eight, which takes place first in L.A. and then New York, TV's quintessential curmudgeon Larry David embraces his new title - "social assassin" - with relish. He blasts a woman for her use of "LOL" instead of actual laughter; chides another for her practice of "chat and cut" (pretending you know someone in order to cut in line), and a man he sees "pig parking," i.e. parking your car over the line to essentially occupy two spaces. In short, Larry may go over the social line regularly, but, really, he says what we only dare think about ... and that's what makes this series satisfying as well as funny.